1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-mount electric apparatus in which an operation panel is mechanically driven, and more particularly to a vehicle-mount electric apparatus suitable for preventing robbery by hiding the vehicle-mount electric apparatus when a driver moves away from the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Apparatuses are known which can prevent robbery by hiding a vehicle-mount electric apparatus when a driver moves away from the vehicle. FIGS. 10A to 10C and FIGS. 11A to 11C show an example of a robbery preventing apparatus for use with a vehicle-mount electric apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication HEI 6-339875 filed by the present applicant. In these Figures, reference numeral 104 represents a chassis for housing a vehicle-mount audio apparatus, the chassis being inserted in and fixed to a mount recess of the vehicle. An escutcheon 106 is fixed to the chassis 104 and rotatively supports a frame 107.
FIG. 10A shows a use state of the vehicle-mount audio apparatus in which an operation panel 108 is situated in the front area. Reference numeral 108a represents a cassette port formed in the operation panel 108. As an unrepresented activation switch of the robbery preventing apparatus is depressed in the state shown in FIG. 10A, the frame 107 rotates upward toward the horizontal position as shown in FIGS. 10B and 10C. In this state, a cover 105 first positioned in the upper inside of the chassis 104 moves toward the frame 107 along the groove formed in the frame 107. At the same time, the operation panel 108 is moved backward. FIG. 11A shows the state of the cover 105 and operation panel 108 after they are moved.
Next, as shown in FIGS. 11B and 11C, the frame 107 rotates downward to the original vertical position. In this state, the cover 105 shields the operation panel 108 so that the vehicle-mount audio apparatus cannot be seen from the outside and robbery can be prevented. In order to recover the use state of the vehicle-mount audio apparatus, the above operations are reversed.
In the above-described conventional robbery preventing apparatus for a vehicle-mount electric apparatus, many components such as the cover 105, operation panel 108 and frame 107 are required to move so that the drive mechanism for these components becomes complicated and the cost is raised. Furthermore, since the operation panel 108 having the cassette port 108a for mounting and dismounting a disk, a cassette tape or the like moves forward and backward relative to the electric apparatus. Therefore, the mechanism for mounting and dismounting a disk or the like is required to be devised. This makes the mechanism complicate and the cost high.
Some robbery preventing apparatuses have the operation panel which moves in unison with the apparatus main body. In this case, the above problems are solved. However, the drive mechanism is required to move the heavy main body together with the operation panel so that it becomes complicated and mechanical driving noises and consumption power become large.
In order to solve the above problems, a robbery preventing electric apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication HEI 8-103935 and filed by the present applicant uses a novel drive mechanism for driving an operation panel. This drive mechanism moves a rotary shaft of the operation panel while the operation panel is rotated, so as to move the operation panel between first and second states, and sets the rotary shaft of the operation panel during the intermediate position in generally a horizontal state, to one end of the motion range. The first state sets the operation panel in such a manner that its normally used operation surface is directed to the front side, and the second state sets the operation panel in such a manner that its surface other than the normally used operation surface is directed to the front side.
With this robbery preventing apparatus for a vehicle-mount electric apparatus, only the operation panel is driven to prevent robbery and the mechanism can be simplified. However, as the operation panel is set generally in the horizontal state which allows a disk insertion, the rotary shaft of the operation panel protrudes forward by not a small degree. Therefore, the main body of the apparatus is required to be mounted at the deeper position of the apparatus. Since the disk port is formed in the main body, this port is located at the deeper position so that insertion and discharge of a disk become difficult.